


Writer's Month 2020 Prompt 16: History

by RiatheMai



Series: Writer's Month 2020 Prompts [12]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Daily Writing Prompt, Gen, Gen Work, Injury, J2AU, Writer's Month 2020, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27083473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiatheMai/pseuds/RiatheMai
Summary: Writer's Month 2020 (August)Jared and Jensen have history, and they're both hoping it will serve them now.
Series: Writer's Month 2020 Prompts [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922179
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Writer's Month 2020 Prompt 16: History

**Author's Note:**

> This is story number 16 of the ones I wrote for this daily writing challenge. I won't be posting all of them, just the ones I really liked. Most of these were written with pen/pencil on paper, something I hadn't done in a very, very long time, and I'd decided that I wasn't going to go back and edit them as I was typing them up. Spelling and glaring punctuation errors, I'd try to catch, but I was going to try to keep the structure very organic; how I wrote it was how I'd keep it. I wrote them during the day, typed them up to email to Kellnire every evening, and went on to the next prompt. It wasn't until I started posting these that I even went back to reread them, and I've had to remind myself of my original intent or I'd edit, change, rewrite, delete, or burn with holy fire them all to the point where I'd never post any of them. 
> 
> Thanks again for all the kudos and comments for these stories. I can't express how happy they have made me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say they had history is an understatement.

They’d attended rival schools and had met on opposite sides of the field or the judges’ tables for years. At first, they’d really resented each other. They’d seemed to be evenly matched in everything, always neck-and-neck, always in competition, but never really besting the other. Not enough that one could gloat over the other.

At least, not for long.

By the time senior year had rolled around, that resentment had morphed into a grudging respect. It was hard to hate someone who was such a good sport, a clean player, or an intelligent contestant. And maybe, too, that constant competition had been just what each had needed to always push harder, to never give up, to never settle for ‘good enough.’

Jared really hopes that will serve them now.

News of the crash shocked Jared terribly, and like so many, he devoured every news report and article he could find for an update on Jensen’s condition. His agent wasn’t very forthcoming in the press, but Jared had contacts of his own. The prognosis wasn’t good.

The words ‘career-ending’ were never what someone wanted to hear when talking about a professional athlete, but they hit Jared especially hard, not just because he knew who Jensen was, but because he was a bit of a fan.

After graduating from High School, their paths had separated, but Jared had kept track of his past rival in the years that had followed. It hadn’t been that hard to do.

News that Jensen had turned down a scout for a major league baseball team to attend college had caused quite the buzz, so all the regional newspapers had carried the story, revisiting it over the next four years as Jensen’s collegiate athletic career continued to impress.

Meanwhile, Jared had left competitive athletics, though not his love of sports, to become a physical therapist.

When Jensen had been picked up by the Houston Astros, Jared had been happy to hear, even as he’d shaken his head at the irony of Jensen joining a rival team; Jared was a Ranger’s fan. Jared had no intensions of switching teams, but he’d followed Jensen’s career—silently, lest his father disown him—happy to see, in how the media seemed to love him, that fame hadn’t changed him. Jensen was still the same good sport, team leader, and all-around good person he’d been in high school—volunteering for youth programs and surprising sick kids with hospital visits, care packages, and social media shout outs.

Jared’s own career, although not so glamorous or well-known, was successful and fulfilling. He loved working with people, first as a physical trainer and eventually as a rehabilitation physical therapist.

Jared stops outside the door to the examination room and takes a deep breath. He’s read the patient file front to back. He knows who’s on the other side of that door, so he knows what he’s up against—and at the same time, he doesn’t have a clue.

Details of Jensen’s injuries following a car accident where his car had been side-swiped by a drunk driver, painted a bleak picture and a long recovery. That he wasn’t killed was a miracle; his totaled BMW had been plastered across the front page of the sports section for weeks after.

There had been multiple broken bones: ribs, a few vertebrae, but luckily no permanent damage to his spine and neck. His arm, however, was another story. It took extensive surgery to save his right arm, and multiple subsequent surgeries since to get him to the point where he had a hope—however small—of ever regaining full use of his hand.

That is where Jared comes in.

He knocks on the door to the examination room and hears a gruff voice on the other side say, “Come in.” He tucks the thick patient file under his arm and slowly opens the door.

“Good afternoon,” he says, as if he’s greeting a total stranger for the very first time. He almost follows it with, ‘I’m Jared. I’ll be your physical therapist,’ it’s so rote by this point.

“Padalecki,” Jensen says first.

“Ackles,” he responds back as he settles in behind his desk. He wonders if this is going to prove to be a really bad idea, him taking on Jensen’s therapy.

They stare at each other for a moment, and Jared braces himself for the awkwardness to kick in. Surprisingly, it doesn’t.

Jensen looks good, all things considered. There are a few scars on his face, remnants from the accident, but they are faint and not disfiguring at all. He sits straight in his chair, his arm in a sling the only other indication of the ordeal he’s faced these last nine months.

“I have to admit,” Jared starts. “I was a bit surprised when I got the call from your agent about a consultation.”

“Why’s that?”

“Your team must have access to some of the best sports medicine doctors and physical therapists in the country.”

Jensen nods. “They do.”

“And yet they called me?”

Jensen drops his gaze to his lap. “Do you remember high school?”

Jared blinks at the non-sequitur. “Of course.”

“You were like the proverbial thorn in my side. Every sport I played, every district competition, there you were, always right there about to kick my ass.”

Jared smirks. “Same. Used to drive me nuts.”

“It’s how I knew I really wanted to play pro ball.”

That is surprising. “Yet you turned down that scout to go to college.” Jensen looks up at him, and Jared shrugs his shoulders. “I might have kept track.”

“My folks were pissed.”

“I bet.”

“I’ll let you in on a little secret, one I’ll categorically deny if it leaves this room…”

Jared makes a gesture of turning a key in a lock in front of his lips and Jensen just rolls his eyes. “Part of the reason I’d turned it down was because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to keep my pace without the threat of you always nipping at my heels.”

Of all the things Jensen might have said, that isn’t what Jared expected. “I’d say you figured it out pretty quick.” Jensen raises an eyebrow, and Jared shrugs again. “Like I said, I kept track. Your collegiate career was incredible. Wasn’t too thrilled about your choice of team, though. Seriously? The Astros?”

Jensen laughs. “My dad said the same damned thing.”

“A man with sense.”

“I’ll tell him you said that. You know, he was the one who sent me your contact info.”

“Really?”

Jensen nods. “All those fancy, high-priced doctors at my disposal, and do you know what they all told me?” Jensen looks off to the side for a second, collecting himself. When he looks back, Jared can see the pain in his eyes, not the physical pain of his injuries, but a pain far worse. “They told me to retire.”

Jared is not surprised. He’s seen the scans and he’s read the reports. He’s never been a doom-n-gloom kind of person, but he doesn’t like to give his patients unrealistic expectations. Neither is he one to write someone off without trying.

Still, he has to ask, “What did your dad think I was going to be able to do for you that those high-paid docs couldn’t?”

Jensen doesn’t answer right away. When he does, his voice sounds tight. “He said that no one has ever lit a fire under me like you did. The idea of facing you and _not_ bringing my A game, of _not_ giving it my all was just unthinkable. And he’s not wrong, but it’s more than that. I always knew that _you_ weren’t going to meet me half-assed either. You weren’t going to give me less than everything you had, and…I need that if I’m going to have any chance at all.”

“I can’t promise you that I’m going to be able to undo the damage, Jensen.”

“I’m not asking you to. I just need you to promise that you’ll try.”

“That, I can promise you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


End file.
